Sign on door thanks Bradford Love Apple customers for support

8:20am Tuesday 8th June 2010 in News Photograph of the Author By Will Kilner

The sign on the Love Apple door The sign on the Love Apple door

A well-known cafe-bar and nightclub in Bradford’s west end has shut down.

A slump in trade is thought to be to blame for the closure of the Love Apple, at 34 Great Horton Road.

A sign on the door reads: “Regretfully closed. Many thanks to all our friends and customers over the past 13 years, Love & Apples.”

Only two months ago, it was announced that the Love Apple would play host to a number of top Indie acts during weekly music sessions, including Pete Doherty, The Klaxons, Happy Mondays and Mani from the Stone Roses.

The licensee at the Love Apple was Parvez Iqbal, who ran the venue with his partner Victoria Brett.

Michael Stewart, a Bradford-based writer, artist and university lecturer, used to go to the Love Apple and was friends with the boss, who he knew as ‘Pav’.

Mr Stewart said: “It’s a great shame. Pav inflated the price of beers deliberately to keep out the riff-raff from the nearby cheap drinking places. But I don’t think it worked because he lost his core audience of students.”

Businessman Len Cohen, of Leeds, supplies vending machines to pubs across Yorkshire and has dealt with the Love Apple for the best part of a decade.

He said “They were lovely people to do business with. They are very upset because they’ve run it for 13 years.”

e-mail: will.kilner @telegraphandargus.co.uk

Comments(13)

reportmeagain says...
8:30am Tue 8 Jun 10

Cant believe there's riff-raff in Bradford.what is the place coming to?

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Moon on a stick says...
8:43am Tue 8 Jun 10

In the last several months there's been a move towards more bassline in the West End generally and that brings in a chav crowd.

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Hockens Hey says...
8:59am Tue 8 Jun 10

That was the only place worth travelling into Bradford for for a night out. A real shame. Used to really look forward to Deanos's nights.
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The city centre seems to be spiralling downhill so fast, in terms of lack of places to go, it's frightening.
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Just wish the decision makers in City Hall would publicly admit it. Then we might be able to move forward.

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Traveler says...
9:22am Tue 8 Jun 10

Who is going down next? Maybe bookies in city centre have their favourites?

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bredandbuttered says...
11:31am Tue 8 Jun 10

Its been a long time coming, but the West End development was partly responsible for the demise of places like the Love Apple.
The opening of Wetherspoons etc (should I say the incompitant selling off of the beautiful baths) alongside live music venues like The Manville and such was akin to opening Tescos next to a village butchers/bakers/gree
ngrocers.
A quick fix with a long term loss of character, safe drinking, etc.
The LA wasn't my fav place to be, but the fact that it was independent stood for something.
Code: loss-many...

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Moon on a stick says...
11:54am Tue 8 Jun 10

Rather than the redevelopment of the Westend surely it's more the licensing law changes and the choice of the Council licensing department to allow all requests for hours to be extended to be passed.
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Essentially every venue wants to be a pub *and* a nightclub so you have every venue competing for the same pool of customers for the entire night.
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The pub crawl, the moving from one venue to the next to end up at a nightclub is on the way to being relegated to history.

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Rambo says...
12:07pm Tue 8 Jun 10

"Essentially every venue wants to be a pub *and* a nightclub so you have every venue competing for the same pool of customers for the entire night.
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The pub crawl, the moving from one venue to the next to end up at a nightclub is on the way to being relegated to history."

Also re: Wetherspoons. I was talking about this to someone the other day. They've pretty much collared most of the market, and its similar types of venues that are taking over from the traditional city centre pubs/clubs. Partly due to the longer opening hours and decisions to put TVs in them. Remember when the Titus Salt had no TVs? Now it has world cup football.
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They've turned into a place where people can go have a few drinks, eat for cheap and stay on for a few more till the early hours, not like a few years ago when it got to 11pm and everyone would leave to go to the late clubs/bars.

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ItchyBungle says...
12:38pm Tue 8 Jun 10

The love apple was a great place but it was a bit expensive for most of its regulars. It will be a sad loss to the city and can never be replaced (unless they open another one somewhere else!).
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I like who the T&A got to comment on the story, a friend and someone who used to supply vending machines to the LA! What fantastic journalistic skills Will has, If he would have had time he would also have interviewed the street cleaner, a local health service commissioner, the toilet attendant at the town hall and 'Jesus man.' On second thoughts he might of interviewed them but discounted what they said.
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Good interviews would have been from the manager or owner, former staff, former regulars, etc.

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MarkPullen says...
1:37pm Tue 8 Jun 10

Traveler wrote:
Who is going down next? Maybe bookies in city centre have their favourites?
I've heard it's so bad the bookies and now taking bets on the bookies shutting down!

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bredandbuttered says...
1:49pm Tue 8 Jun 10

Moon on a stick wrote:
Rather than the redevelopment of the Westend surely it's more the licensing law changes and the choice of the Council licensing department to allow all requests for hours to be extended to be passed.
.
Essentially every venue wants to be a pub *and* a nightclub so you have every venue competing for the same pool of customers for the entire night.
.
The pub crawl, the moving from one venue to the next to end up at a nightclub is on the way to being relegated to history.
I was looking back to 1999-2000 when the LA nearly went bust a number of times after the West End opened up.
I think all local businesses have struggled since then to meet targets, although at first glance it seemed to be Bradford's answer to Leed's "The Calls".
Pavements full of happy drinkers spending shed-loads in town.
I mean Leeds, not Bradford, where they only seemed to go outside for a fight.
Its true though, a sign of the times etc etc.
I imagine daytime/evening food was the LA's main moneymaker.
Cubnights can be tough, what with doorstaff, DJs/promoters taking a cut, advertising and staff, not to mention trends.
Ironic that the opening of five or six fantastic new live venues just away from the West End could be a contributory factor.
"vary-show"

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bcfc1903 says...
8:34am Wed 9 Jun 10

I think the refurbishment of the Odeon building is key to a successful West End,make a world class concert venue attracting world class artists and with a 2,500 to 3,000 capacity you'd have a chance of getting the footfall in and around those west end bars.It's not rocket science add the Odeon to the alhambra audiences and on a good night you could have around 4,000 punters leaving those buildings four to five evenings each week.

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bredandbuttered says...
11:46am Wed 9 Jun 10

bcfc1903 wrote:
I think the refurbishment of the Odeon building is key to a successful West End,make a world class concert venue attracting world class artists and with a 2,500 to 3,000 capacity you'd have a chance of getting the footfall in and around those west end bars.It's not rocket science add the Odeon to the alhambra audiences and on a good night you could have around 4,000 punters leaving those buildings four to five evenings each week.
True so long as we keep out the Bassline Crowd, Ointment and all the other tin-pot gangsters that liked a bottle fight in the west end when that was new.
I used to see the fear in the eyes of families walking through the West End to their cars, half a mile away, as they were set upon by drunken nutters.
Its changed somewhat now, but I really think a joined-together plan is needed to re-vitalise the centre and its entertainment, to make it attractive to families too.
code:half-plan lol

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bcfc1903 says...
1:20pm Wed 9 Jun 10

The Ointment do their drinking in Wibsey mostly... spending their pension money and wouldn't be seen dead in the West End lol

The last time i went for a drink in the West End was in the Mannville Arms which had a good rock band playing but was only half full,also went to Rafters in January for a jam night, which was rammed but i'm no regular in Bradford pubs and clubs and by the way they are closing down says that these places are struggling for custom..

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